Shipping seal



April 29, 1969 J, 5, cH EYT AL SHIPPING SEAL Filed July 24, 1967INVENTORS John S. Chndley George J. Nylund Hyman Dolinsky 41f,

United States Patent Oflice 3,441,304 Patented Apr. 29, 1969 Nylund,Staten (all of 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosurerelates to a band-like seal for use with a shipping container. The sealis connectable between the container and its door. Ends of the seal arejoined together. The inventors teach an apparatus by which tamperingwith the seal at its connection can be easily detected. The seal isprovided with reservoirs of dye at the connection, so that on anytearing in that locality, the dye is released and thereby one is alertedto the broken seal. A solid medial portion of the band is providedbetween dye reservoirs so that the band may be stamped or otherwisemarked for identification and so that the band may be sheared for normalremoval of the seal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Unattended freight is usually shipped incontainers with their doors locked. But locks can be picked, so sealsare furnished to indicate when a door may have been opened. These sealsare usually made of metal. They comprise a band which is connectablebetween the door and the shipping container. A socket engages the endsof the band.

Responsibility for loss, due to pilferage .or the like, is frequentlyfixed by a determination of whether or not a seal has or has not beenbroken. However, it is not inordinately difficult to undo conventionalmetal seals from their sockets, pilfer goods from the shippingcontainers and then reinsert the broken seals back into their sockets.

At destinations the seals are normally broken with crude instrumentssuch as crow bars. Not much force is necessary to break these seals andseal breaking degenerates into a lax, routine effort. In breaking alarge number of seals, a railroad employee easily may fail to discern aseal band that has been broken loose at its socket and reinsertedtherein. Thus, shippers can lose valuable merchandise with no recourseagainst carriers. But worse than this, indifference, or carelessness onthe part of the carriers employees ensures to the carriers benefit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventors have cured this paradox by anovel and facile approach to scaling of shipping containers. Theyprovide a seal with its elongated band ends each housing reservoirs ofdye. The dye is positioned in margins about holes at the connectableends of the band. A rivet or other suitable connector is permanentlypositioned through both holes to assure sealing.

When the band is broken in the vicinity of one of its connectable ends,the rivet tears a margin and dye is released so that a broken sealcannot readily be denied.

One advantage of this invention is that it improves security and makesthis security more palatable to shippers. Determination of whether ornot a seal has been broken is made more simple. Rapid visual checking ofa large number of freight containers is made possible.

The seal according to this invention is also inexpensive to manufacture,convenient to use and is otherwise well suited to its intended purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other advantageswill appear more fully from the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic illustration of a shipping container having adoor and including a seal according to this invention connected betweenthe container and its door.

FIGURE II is a side view of the seal band with an undeformed rivetinserted in the connecting holes.

FIGURE III is another side view taken in a plane normal to that ofFIGURE II.

FIGURE -IV is a sectional view of an assembled, twopiece acorn shroudsuitable for enclosing the assembled seal connection.

FIGURE V is a sectional side view of the assembled seal and shroud.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As best seen in FIGURE I seal 1is used with shipping container 2 having a port and moveable door 3 alloperatively associated in their conventional relationship. Seal 1includes elongated band 4 which encircles handles 6 for connectionbetween door 3 and container 2.

Band 4 is preferably made of plastic and it houses dye reservoirs 7 and8 in margins 9 and 11 respectively about connecting holes 12 and 13. Dyeuseful in this application may be any indelible substance of a bright,easily recognized color. To lock the seal, a broad-faced rivet 16 isinserted through both holes 12 and 13. Rivet 16 is deformed forpermanent locking of the seal assembly. Twopiece acorn shroud 17protectss the dye reservoirs from accidental rupture in normal service.Shroud 17 has inner piece 18 which is installed before rivet 16 isinserted. Shroud 17 also has outer piece 19 which is applied after therivet is deformed. Inner piece 18 is also provided with scroll 21 formedabout opening 22 to avoid accidental cutting of band 4 under normalservice. The shroud also prevents access to rivet 16 when the seal isassembled.

When the seal is broken in the vicinity of the connection, rivet 16tears either margin 9 or 11 and either dye reservoir 7 or 8 is rupturedso that the dye housed therein is permitted to escape. The dye ispreferably under fairly high, super-atmospheric pressure to assurepronounced issuance from either reservoir 7 or 8. Nitrogen is preferredfor this pressurizing service because it is inexpensive, convenient,non-toxic and would not react with a dye. Acorn shroud 17 could also beprovided with perforations to allow greater dispersion of the dye onbreaking of the seal.

When a shipment arrives at its destination with its seal intact it isnecessary to remove the seal without any dye being released. Toward thisobjective, the reservoirs are spaced apart along the length of band 4 bya solid intermediate portion 23. Intermediate portion 23 can be shearedto remove the seal with no consequent escape of dye. Intermediateportion 23 can also be marked; either by dye, embossing, impression orby melting; with an identifying mark, brand and/ or code number.

It will be understood by those familiar with containerized shipping and/or with shipping seals that wide deviations may be made from the shownembodiment without departing from the main theme of invention.

dye reservoir.

3 What is claimed is: 1. A seal for use with a shipping container whichis provided with an access port and a movable door operativelyassociated therewith, the seal comprising:

an elongated band connectable between the door and the container,

means for connecting the ends of the band each to the other,

means for defining at least one reservoir for dye which includes amembrane containing the dye and is 10- 1 cated in the vicinity of one ofthe ends and is so organized that tampering with the seal causes themembrane to rupture and the dye to escape.

2. The seal of claim 1 wherein the band houses the 3. The seal of claim2 with each of the ends of the band provided with a hole,

a member insertable through both holes to define a locked position,

lock means for permanently securing the member in 20 its lockedposition.

4. The seal of claim 3 with the band having a margin about each of theholes,

the dye housed in both margins and surrounding each of the holes wherebyon breaking of a margin by the member the dye is released.

5. The seal of claim 4 with the dye reservoirs maintained atsuper-atmospheric pressure.

6. The seal of claim 5 with a shroud having at least one opening toreceive both ends of the band,

the shroud enveloping the ends of the band,

the shroud defining a scroll about the opening to avoid accidentalcutting of the band.

7. The seal of claim 6 with a rivet serving as the member,

the rivet deformable to serve as the lock means.

8. The seal of claim 7 with the band having a solid medial portionbetween the dye reservoirs where it can be cut for normal removalwithout dye being released.

9. The seal of claim 8 with the shroud made of metal and including aninner piece which defines the opening and an outer piece permanentlyengageable with the inner piece after the rivet is deformed in itslocked position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,188,811 6/1916 Mosel 292-3172,212,434 8/1940 Buell 292-317 2,942,908 6/ 1960 McClure 292-3243,221,428 12/1965 Fischler 40-2.2

RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner. E. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 116-414

